Long before Grace Potter teamed with Kenny Chesney or Jimmy Buffett hit the top of the country charts duetting with Alan Jackson, Lionel Richie was making fans and friends in the country community. Richie penned Kenny Rogers' chart-topping hit "Lady," Conway Twitty covered his "Three Times a Lady," and Richie's collaboration with Alabama on "Deep River Woman" was among the highlights of the 1986 Country Music Assn. Awards. Last November, Richie returned to the CMAs to preview "Tuskegee," a collection of his classic hits performed with Little Big Town, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean and other country acts.

"I wanted to do a country album," Richie said backstage at the CMA Awards, "and found out that every country act down here knows the lyrics [to my songs] better than I do, so I thought, 'Let's change this thing around and do a duets album and give everyone a chance to give their interpretation of what the songs are all about.' Instead of getting everyone to sing the track that I created, I wanted Rascal Flatts to come in and create a Rascal Flatts track and sound like themselves, make 'Dancing on the Ceiling' sound just like them. Then Shania Twain came in with 'Endless Love' and Jennifer Nettles with 'Hello' and Willie Nelson with 'Easy Like Sunday Morning.'"

UMG Nashville executive VP/GM Ken Robold says TV will play a major role in marketing "Tuskegee," which Richie named for his Alabama hometown. "We are hoping to also have a presence on the [Academy of Country Music] Awards," Robold says. "We have several other appearances planned, spanning morning, prime time and late night. Additionally, we are in talks with Home Shopping Network about a large presale event to help supplement our retail strategy. We feel the audience for this record has a broad appeal, particularly with adult females. Two of the genres that strongly appeal to this demographic are country and adult contemporary, so clearly these two will be a focus."

The first single has yet to be determined, but Robold hears many possibilities. "Every one of the songs on this record is timeless," he says. "When you couple Lionel's vocals with an incredibly strong array of duet partners, we feel that this record can surprise a lot of people."

"We have several other appearances planned, spanning morning, prime time and late night.

Let's hope for some Shania...... :)

cbspock

01-24-2012 06:06 AM

For Lionel Richie, pairing with some of country biggest names for his new album 'Tuskegee,' provided a fun way to revisit and reinterpret some of his classic songs. As an unexpected bonus, he made lots of new Nashville friends. "We started off not knowing anybody" at the beginning of recording, he said Friday night (Jan. 20) at a party at his gorgeous Beverly Hills mansion, which is adjacent to a golf course and Hugh Hefner's home. "This is the best bunch of brand-new old friends I've made in my life."

During the three-hour soiree, attended primarily by radio program directors, a congenial Lionel casually sat on the steps of his atrium and played the entire album, punctuating each song with often hilarious stories about the nine-month recording process. Of Blake Shelton, with whom he sang 'You Are,' Lionel joked, "I'd never seen a plaid shirt on someone that big."

Darius Rucker threw the Commodores founder for a loop when he wanted to sing Lionel's original part on 'Stuck On You.' "What you hear is Darius Rucker singing like Lionel Richie and Lionel Richie hanging on for dear life," joked the music legend.

Richie fully expected Kenny Chesney to pick the good-timing 'All Night Long' to cover, so he was stunned when Kenny expressed his admiration for the ballad 'My Love.' Chesney's adoration was so ardent, "he drunk dialed me at 2:00 AM and said he was going to sing the song to me," Lionel recalls. He added that Kenny's mom, who Kenny claimed had never attended one of his recording sessions before, dropped by to hear her baby sing with Lionel.

Both Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles kept Lionel on his toes vocally. The male trio picked 'Dancing on the Ceiling,' a tune Lionel joked "is about as country as 'Mona Lisa'." "Every time I'd think I was kicking ***, Gary would go four octaves higher."

Lionel also told a touching story about recording 'Endless Love' with Shania Twain at his house in the Bahamas, as they gently worked through her fears about beginning to sing again following her long hiatus.

Speaking exclusively to The Boot following the playback, Lionel stressed that he tried to put each act at ease by telling him or her to "make [the song] yours, please." When the country artists worried that they might overshadow the legend, Lionel told them that was the plan all along.

"What I've found in artists sometimes is there's an ego that happens [where you think] 'I have to out-sing you or out-perform you.' That's if you're purely a singer. I'm purely a writer. My ego is the fact that Darius Rucker said to me, 'I'm singing your part.' Can you imagine telling Frank Sinatra, 'I'm singing your part?' You're out of here. So immediately, I had to stop and go and say, 'OK guys, come in and make this song yours and I'll scat in between. I'll be around'."

'Tuskegee,' which also features duets with Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Currington, Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean, comes out in March.

Shania Twain/"Endless Love"
"I actually called her, not knowing that Shania had not had a note come out of her mouth in seven years. Little old naïve me… I said, 'I'm thinking about "Endless Love"… I promise I will guide you through this song'—not knowing she was in complete vocal paralysis." Twain agreed but wanted to cut the song at her beach house in the Bahamas to avoid people knowing about the session. "I'm thinking, this is the most secret song I've ever done in my life… We fly in with a stealth crew… I wake up in the morning, go into the living room, there's Oprah's OWN, the entire show, sitting in my living room! I said, 'Guys, you gotta get out of here. She's scared to death of people.' They said, 'No no no, Lionel, we're with Shania. She's doing a show called 'How I Got My Voice Back.' I'm now doing an interview saying, she's got her voice—I think! They're saying 'No, Lionel, up to this point, she's not been able to sing.' Now I'm getting scared, because we spent the [album] budget to come down! She walks in and says, 'I don't think I can do this.' That's when I told the cameras to cut off… I , 'I promise you, when you walk into that room and stand in front of that microphone and open your mouth, you will turn into Shania Twain'… The first note you will hear from Shania on 'Endless Love' is the first time she opened her mouth to sing."http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/our-co...4-icHX835Mz#_=_

I look forward to hearing the 3rd (but recorded 1st) song on her journey back.

Darn good version too. Best vocal job from Shania in this Millenium. Really. Excellent production - very Muttesque; lotsa space - even the very short electric guitar solo effectively highlights the huge emotional charge within the song... and right after it, Lionel & Shania's vocals return... - a definite goosebump moment.

Darn good version too. Best vocal job from Shania in this Millenium. Really. Excellent production - very Muttesque; lotsa space - even the very short electric guitar solo effectively highlights the huge emotional charge within the song... and right after it, Lionel & Shania's vocals return... - a definite goosebump moment.

Best song I've heared so far this year.

John - ;)

It sounds great. That will be on my iPod tonight. :)

-Chris

Vivashania

01-27-2012 08:21 AM

Very Muttesque? I don't really think so. What I hear is more like Eilleen Twain from Deerhurst. And I love it! I think I'm about to fall for Shania all over again.

cbspock

01-27-2012 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vivashania

Very Muttesque? I don't really think so. What I hear is more like Eilleen Twain from Deerhurst. And I love it! I think I'm about to fall for Shania all over again.

I totally agree, I heard that in her voice on the duet with Buble, also a little on Today.

-Chris

FinnFreak

01-27-2012 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vivashania

Very Muttesque? I don't really think so. What I hear is more like Eilleen Twain from Deerhurst. And I love it! I think I'm about to fall for Shania all over again.

I was pointing out more the similarity of the musical structuring of the song. Vocals are at least as powerful as in FTMO... perhaps even more so. Very much confidence in there, IMHO.

John - ;)

Vivashania

01-27-2012 11:00 AM

The BIG NEWS is that we are once again discussing and debating new music from Shania!

FinnFreak

01-27-2012 12:05 PM

No argument: Shania absolutely shines on 'Endless Love'...

Lionel Richie's 'Lady' recording on his 1998 'Time' is among my all time favorites... can't wait to hear what the duet with Kenny Rogers sounds like... as KR made it a hit way back then... heh, 2012 has begun on a high note... ;)

Thank God for Music - it's the language to express our love to Him

John - :)

cbspock

01-27-2012 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinnFreak

I was pointing out more the similarity of the musical structuring of the song. Vocals are at least as powerful as in FTMO... perhaps even more so. Very much confidence in there, IMHO.

John - ;)

I can see similarities with FTMO. The vocal mix is totally different, they didn't do any of the layering stuff Mutt does on some mixes

-Chris

FinnFreak

01-27-2012 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbspock

I can see similarities with FTMO. The vocal mix is totally different, they didn't do any of the layering stuff Mutt does on some mixes

-Chris

True - it's very raw - and it's very revealing to hear the voice as it is, without the "make-up"... and how powerful it actually is, when the vocalist sings a song she most likely has done way back then, hundreds of times in front of a mirror... giving her 100%, trusting only in what she has... this, IMHO, is the natural voice... and it's a great thing to hear... 'Endless Love' is a huge classic... and Shania does it with Lionel Richie just as great as Diana Ross.